Rescheduling for AGVs by Time Windows Concept

For the operation of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in factories, the rescheduling of AGV routing is necessary to recover operational delay in AGV routing plans and bridge the gap between the schedule and the practical operation. This study deals with such a rescheduling problem. First, the problem is formulated as a problem of a network with time constraints which are referred to as time windows. Secondly, an algorithm is proposed to obtain two kinds of scheduling information, the earliest arrival time to each node and the latest departure time from each node, to assure the earliest possible arrival of the AGV at a goal node. This algorithm is a dynamic programming method which uses recursion. Lastly, a rescheduling procedure using the information is proposed to recover the practical delay in route scheduling.